The new Broadway musical Big Fish, a father-and-son tale based on the 1998 novel by Daniel Wallace and the subsequent 2003 film by John August, swims onto Broadway Sept. 5, when it begins previews at the Neil Simon Theatre, following a world-premiere engagement in Chicago.

Kate Baldwin and Norbert Leo Butz
Photo by Paul Kolnik

Directed and choreographed by five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman (The Producers, Contact, Show Boat, Crazy for You), the work features music and lyrics by Grammy and Tony nominee Andrew Lippa (The Addams Family) with a book by Grammy and BAFTA Award nominee August.

Stroman, whose last Broadway project, The Scottsboro Boys, earned her 2011 Tony Award nominations for direction and choreography, says her newest Broadway project holds a special place in her heart.

"My father was a salesman with a big smile, a man who could talk anyone into anything," she told Playbill magazine. "I was that little girl who danced around the living room to her father's music while he played the piano. For me, creating to music started when I was five or six. [He] whistled tunes constantly, until you thought it would make you crazy — and then you realized you were whistling right along with him... He also told big fish stories."

Big Fish, according to press notes, "centers on Edward Bloom, a traveling salesman who lives life to its fullest… and then some! Edward's incredible, larger-than-life stories thrill everyone around him – most of all, his devoted wife Sandra. But their son Will, about to have a child of his own, is determined to find the truth behind his father’s epic tales. Big Fish is about dreaming, loving and living bigger."

"Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions" was first printed in 1998. In December 2003 an acclaimed film of "Big Fish" was released by Columbia Pictures directed by Tim Burton, starring Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange and Helena Bonham Carter. The film was nominated for an Academy Award, Grammy Award, four Golden Globe Awards and seven BAFTA Awards.

A First Look at Broadway-Bound New Musical Big Fish in Chicago

A First Look at Broadway-Bound New Musical Big Fish in Chicago

The world premiere of the new musical Big Fish, based on the 1998 novel by Daniel Wallace and the 2003 Columbia Pictures film written by John August, began its pre-Broadway engagement April 2, prior to an official opening April 19, in Chicago. Read the Playbill.com story.